CH 9.2

Chapter 9.2 – Caught

Sitting on the spot, Lin Xiaoyin hugged her injured knees and asked again, “Is that Teacher Li?”

Li Chuan and Su Qin looked at each other when he subconsciously pushed Su Qin’s shoulder, signaling her to hurriedly leave. Grabbing the hatchet immediately, Su Qin jumped down the rapeseed field then shuttled through the fields like a monkey and rushed towards the mountain temple.

Only after she left did Li Chuan straighten up and walk towards Lin Xiaoyin.

The girl who sat on the same spot looked up at the man before glancing behind him, “Teacher Li, who was that person just now?”

“Person?” Li Chuan’s tone was cold, “There was no one, you’ve mistaken.”

Lin Xiaoyin was sure that she was right. There was indeed a person squatting beside him just now. She was about to open her mouth to refute when Li Chuan interrupted her, “Let’s go, let’s go back.”

Looking at the man from where she sat, Lin Xiaoyin swallowed and said, “Teacher Li … I … I fell and hurt myself.”

Li Chuan stopped to glance at her coldly before looking around.

The mountain temple was not far from here. Pondering about it, Li Chuan found a tree root for her to grab and pulled her up from the ground.

As Lin Xiaoyin was injured, they could not return the same way since she couldn’t climb up such an elevated slope now. After a moment of hesitation, Li Chuan pulled her up the mountain path and brought her to the mountain temple.

The two of them started to walk down the mountain path, which did not seem to be the way back to the village. Feeling puzzled, Lin Xiaoyin asked him, “Teacher Li, where are you … taking me?”

“In your condition, where do you want to go?” Li Chuan raised his jaw to point at the mountain temple not far away and told her, “The road up the mountain is not easy while the road down is too long. I will first take you to rest in the mountain temple for a while, then find the villagers to send you down the mountain.”

“Oh … “ Lin Xiaoyin grabbed the wooden stick without another word.

Limping after the man, she felt really unhappy. Coming to the mountain village this man didn’t seem to be here for the education program but seemingly … had other plans.

The last time she saw this man at school, he was still courteous to her, but now why? She really couldn’t think how she had offended him.

Walking to the entrance of the mountain temple, they ran into Li Yunzhen who also intended to enter the mountain temple.

Seeing the two of them, Li Yunzhen froze and her face turned pale, “Li … Teacher Li? Teacher Lin? Why are you guys here?”

Li Chuan revealed a smile with a pleasant countenance, “Oh, it’s like that. Teacher Lin sprained her foot and it’s not too convenient to go down the mountain. Seeing the temple here, we just came to take a rest for a while.”

Li Yunzhen subconsciously glanced askance inside and stammered, “Is … is that so. Teacher Li, you don’t know our village has rules that outsiders can’t enter the mountain temple. How about this, you both rest outside for a while. I’ll ask Uncle Wen to go down the mountain to get someone to send Teacher Lin back?”

“It’s okay to just sit outside, we’ll trouble you guys then.”

Li Chuan looked towards the main hall of the mountain temple. There was an old man sitting inside savoring a tobacco pipe in his hand.

The old man was called out by Li Yunzhen and after a few words, he went down the mountain while Li Yunzhen replaced him to guard the door.

Li Yunzhen moved two wooden armchairs out to let them sit before going inside to pour two cups of tea. She dared not walk away but stayed outside with the two teachers, lest they would go in and run into those few hidden ‘wives/daughters-in-laws’.

Taking a sip of tea, Lin Xiaoyin shot a glance inside the mountain temple while Li Yunzhen tried to converse with them and when she got excited, she grabbed Lin Xiaoyin’s hand.

Instinctively retracting her hand, Lin Xiaoyin couldn’t control her emotion and revealed her true colors as she spoke fiercely, “What are you doing ah?”

Li Yunzhen was startled by the girl’s sudden outburst.

The girl then took out a handkerchief to start wiping her hands and expressing her disdain for Li Yunzhen in between her actions.

Li Chuan just kept drinking his tea indifferently, as if not surprised by the girl’s sudden change of face. This is what Miss Lin originally looks like.

The reason why he disliked this girl after his rebirth was because he suspected she too played a part in the fire disaster in his previous lifetime

Flowers bloomed all over the fields and the old building behind him was not big with glazed vermillion tiles and ridges. Entering the main hall was the courtyard where there were several rooms in the backyard.

Li Chuan didn’t intend to go in, so he sat here with ease and waited for the villagers to come up.

Uncle Wen soon brought some people up the mountain and two villagers carried Lin Xiaoyin down with the bamboo pole stretcher.

In the evening, Li Chuan stuffed the keepsakes, contact details and rough paper map to Zhang Cheng, asking him to go down the mountain to Tuling Town’s police station to join the local police to rescue the people in the mountain.

With a frown, Zhang Cheng sat on the bed and kicked his legs expressing his unwillingness, “If I’m f*cking gone, how about you? Joking, what if something happened to you, how do I explain it to Aunt Wen? You staying here alone? Haha, you don’t even know how you die by then! Let’s go down the mountain together and come back with the police, isn’t it the same?”

Li Chuan insisted on staying.

Zhang Cheng kneaded his temples then yelled at him with lowered voice, “Are you f*cking crazy?”

As soon as his voice faltered, a girl’s muffled cry came from the courtyard.

The two men sitting on the bed looked at each other and got off the bed successively before slipping on their shoes and pulling open the door of the room.

In the courtyard, Zhang Xing picked something up and quickly tucked it into his clothes.

Li Chuan pinched Zhang Cheng’s waist, whose face was leaning against the door frame, who bared his teeth and immediately asked Zhang Xing in a brotherly tone, “Brother, what are you doing? What was that sound just now?”

“Oh .. my mother. She just came out with a basin of water and almost slipped at the door. Teacher Li and Teacher Zhang, still not asleep ah?”

Zhang Cheng laughed, “Not yet. Today’s climb was too strenuous. I just asked Old Lai to give me a massage. Oh right, Village Chief Zhang, something happened at home, so I’ll leave early tomorrow morning. Do arrange someone to send me down the mountain.”

Hearing that Zhang Cheng was leaving, Zhang Xing breathed a sigh of relief, “Okay, tomorrow at five o’clock, I’ll call you.

**********

Li Chuan felt something was not right once the door was closed and instructed Zhang Cheng, “You go take a look in Lin Xiaoyin’s room.”

“Crazy ah, knocking on a female teacher’s door in the middle of the night? Don’t you know how fierce that woman is, I’m not going.”

“Go.” Li Chuan’s voice was profoundly cold.

Zhang Cheng who just sat on the bed got up languidly before slipping on a pair of fabric shoes then went to the opposite room and knocked, “Teacher Lin, are you there?”

There was a moment of silence.

When Zhang Cheng was about to knock again, the girl’s trembling voice came from inside, “It’s … very … very late. Teacher Zhang, let’s talk tomorrow.”

“Oh.” Heedlessly, Zhang Cheng simply didn’t pay attention to what was wrong inside.

Not long after Zhang Cheng left, Li Yunzhen, who held a knife around Lin Xiaoyin’s neck, let out a sigh of relief. The woman lowered her voice to warn her, “No screaming.”

Lin Xiaoyin’s room was interconnected with Li Yunzhen’s with a door stopper in between.

Together with Zhang Xing, Li Yunzhen carried Lin Xiaoyin along the room into the kitchen. They then went through the kitchen’s back door and carried her to the basement in the backyard.

The basement.

The air was filled with mustiness and the light was dim.

Thrown on the ground, Lin Xiaoyin swallowed and asked with a trembling voice, “What .. what do you want to do?”

“F*ck you!” Zhang Xing threw the hatchet in his hand to the ground, sat on her then patted her small face and said, “Heard what you shouldn’t hear, don’t ever think about leaving.”

“You … you get off of me!” Lin Xiaoyin was disgusted by this man and screamed at the top of her voice.

The basement was far away from the front yard and the pit was dug deep. Even if she really screamed at the top of her lungs, it was unlikely anyone in the front yard could hear her.

Li Yunzhen sensibly climbed out of the basement and squatted outside to look out for her son.

Zhang Xing ripped her clothes apart and the girl’s two front lumps of white flesh immediately popped out and pierced the man’s eyes.

Lin Xiaoyin struggled and yelled, “You dare to touch me. I’ll report and charge you with rape and let you stay in the prison for a lifetime! Do you know who my father is, I __ “ A loud slap in the face came that the girl turned dazed.

Zhang Xing cursed, “F*ck you, who cares who your father is. Here, I am the Heaven’s king! You bitch, you don’t think I didn’t hear what you said to Zhang Cheng yesterday, saying that I stink? I’ll let you smell Laozi[1]’s c*ck! From now on, you stay here obediently. Even if the police come, you’ll possibly not be found!”

[1] 老子 (Lǎozi) – in this context it’s self-proclaimed for I, used arrogantly or jocularly